Integration of Energy Storage and Distributed Generation (DG) in Distribution Systems: Economic Analysis and Development Perspective
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Munich Personal RePEc Archive Integration of Energy Storage and Distributed Generation (DG) in Distribution Systems: Economic Analysis and Development Perspective Mohajeryami, Saeed and Jennings, Ronald and Alkhbbaz, Ghadeer Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC, USA 1 May 2015 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/70659/ MPRA Paper No. 70659, posted 13 Apr 2016 06:54 UTC Integration of Energy Storage and Distributed Generation (DG) in Distribution Systems: Economic Analysis and Development Perspective Saeed Mohajeryami, Ronald Jennings, Ghadeer Alkhbbaz Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC, USA Copyright © 2016 S. Mohajeryami et al. This article permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract This paper sheds light on distributed generation (DG) and energy storage and their impacts on electricity distribution networks. The purpose is to consider the various technologies of DG and energy storage and their financial and dynamic influence on the distribution network performance. In this paper, some different business cases in the U.S. related to energy storage and DG are investigated. One of these cases is related to Hawaiian Electric CO. One of the goals of Hawaiian Electric Co. for 2030 is to provide at least 65 percent of its electricity from renewable resources and working on providing sufficient energy storage. The company is considering energy storage project proposals on Oahu in order to provide their services by 2017. The paper will provide a look inside the company and how they are managing their existing projects and their future plans. Keywords: Distributed Generation (DG), energy storage system, economic analysis 1. Introduction Energy storage in past was limited to large scale pumped-hydro systems and its rationale was storing the cheap electricity of night time and use it during the peak time as a peak-shaving tool (Celli et al., 2009). But the problem with pumped-hydro was that they were capital-intensive and they needed special circumstances along with so many environmental concerns. Therefore, energy storage concept did not go further than pumped-hydro for a long time. But thanks to the new emerging technologies in power electronics, the new small-scaled energy storage systems became efficient and affordable. With emerging distributed generation technologies, another application was found for energy storage systems. Energy storage systems can take a complementary role for intermittent renewable resources and to distributed generation in general. Integration of combination of energy storage systems and distributed generation into the grid can introduce lots of business opportunities to utilities, customers and vendors. Implementing all new technologies formed by power electronics played an essential role in developing energy storage and DG over the years besides escalating their efficiency. However, Energy storage and DG are supposed to be more efficient and accurate in the upcoming years as more technologies and methodologies are being developed. It is hard to predict how sufficient these systems are going to be, but until now they came far along from the past. 2. Distributed Generation technologies Distributed Generation is electricity generations sources that are connected to distribution systems and not transmission network. Direct connection with distribution systems has this feature that it is going to be used locally (Davoudi, et al. 2015). It means that it is not going to provide a wide area. Based on this definition, even some large power stations, such as Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGTs), as well as Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technologies of any scale can be considered as DGs. they can be installed by individuals, businesses, communities and schools. DG has many kinds of technologies on a wide range of scales, they are going to be explained in detail in the following. Total installed DG capacity until December 2010 was about 7.011 GW, of which more than 50% was conventional steam stations and CCGT stations, which contributed about 4.647 GW. The rest consists of hydro-electric station (natural flow) of 0.133 GW, wind of 0.484 GW and other renewable sources of 1.747 GW (Hidayat and Li, 2013). Some of the DG technologies are briefly introduced as follows. 2.1. Reciprocating engines This DG technology was developed more than a century ago, and is still widely utilized in a broad array of applications. The engines range in size from less than 5 to over 5,000 kW, and use either diesel, natural gas, or waste gas as their fuel source. Reciprocating engines are being used primarily for backup power, peaking power, and in cogeneration applications. 2.2. Micro-turbines Micro-turbines promise low emission levels, but the units are currently relatively expensive. Obtaining reasonable costs and demonstrating reliability will be major hurdles for manufacturers. 2.3. Industrial combustion turbines A mature technology, combustion turbines range from 1 MW to over 5 MW. They have low capital cost, low emission levels, but also usually low electric efficiency ratings. Development efforts are focused on increasing efficiency levels for this widely available technology. Industrial combustion turbines are being used primarily for peaking power and in cogeneration applications. 2.4. Fuel cells Although the first fuel cell was developed more than one hundred fifty years ago, this technology remains in the development stage. Fuel cell emission levels are quite low, but cost and demonstrated reliability remain major problems for the market penetration of this technology. 2.5. Photovoltaics Commonly known as solar panels, photovoltaic (PV) panels are widely available for both commercial and domestic use. Panels range from less than 5 kW and units can be combined to form a system of any size. They produce no emissions, and require minimal maintenance. 2.6. Wind turbine systems They provide a relatively inexpensive (compared to other renewables) way to produce electricity, but as they rely upon the variable and somewhat unpredictable wind, are unsuitable for continuous power needs. Development efforts look to pair wind turbines with battery storage systems that can provide power in those times when the turbine is not turning (Maine public utilities commission, 2001). The technical characteristics of DGs are shown in table 1 (Guan et al., 2009). Table 1: Technical characteristics of DGs (Guan et al., 2009). 3. Energy Storage technologies There are different type of energy that electrical energy could be including electromagnetic, electrochemical, potential, or kinetic. However, there are some challenges that should be addressed. Two of main challenges are the capacity of an energy storage and also the way the energy should be converted to store. Moreover, there are some other parameters limiting the application of different technologies such as how efficient the storage system is, what is its response time, the reliability, and availability (Moghaddam, et al. 2016). In this section, different types of energy storage systems would be described briefly. The aforementioned differences are tabulated in Table 2 for the comparison. 3.1. Conventional Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) The most broadly employed technology in energy storage is the pumped hydro storage. This technology involves pumping water to a higher reservoir to store energy. Afterwards, whenever it is necessary, the water would be pumped down in order to generate electricity by using hydro generators. However, there are some environmental concerns regarding the use of this technology. Furthermore, this technology has a serious limitation namely the limitation of water resource suitable for this technology. 3.2. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) CAES is another technology which became a conventional method in storing energy. In this technology, the electricity is generated from the compressed air reservoir. Similar to PHS, first, the electric energy would be converted to potential energy during off peak time and then whenever it is necessary, it would be used to generate electricity. This conversion from potential energy to electricity mostly happens during the time periods of high demand. In this type, compressed air would be stored in underground reservoirs with high pressure. The main disadvantage of this technology is safety problem. Safety concern which is due to difficulties in storing high-pressure air underground would limit the application of this technology. 3.3. Battery Energy Storage System Since batteries store energy in electrochemical way, they have low time response. However, they have a very high efficiency. Battery energy storage systems attracted a lot of attention after Tesla announced building its battery manufacturing mega-factory. 3.4. Advanced Capacitors Although capacitors are well known and conventionally used in distribution systems, their application as a storage system is new. Hyper-capacitors and Ultra-capacitors are two of advanced types of capacitors utilized to store energy in a more efficient manner. 3.5. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) SMES employs electromagnetic energy to store electrical energy. The mechanism used in this technology is in the following way. DC current would flow through a superconducting coil creating an electromagnetic field which energy can be stored in. This technology has the capacity to store up to 3 MW because of its high efficiency and low time response. They are utilized in power system in order to improve power quality (Schoenung et al., 1996). Table 2 shows the diversity of energy capacity and power level among different types of energy storage systems (Bartun and Infield, 2004). Table 2: Features of Energy Storage systems Advanced Features PHS CAES Battery SMES Capacitors 100-300 Power Level 2 GW 30 MW 100 KW 200 kW MW Less than Less than Less than Energy 25000 7200 200 0.3 kWh 0.6 kWh Level MWh MWh MWh Response 30-40 ms 15 min 30 ms 5 ms 5 ms Time Efficiency 70%-75% 85% 70%-80% 90% 90% 4.